Les Miserables
by shadow62123
Summary: AU: Korra grew up in the slums of Republic City. She saw the worst humanity had to offer everyday and never felt particularly endeared to other people because of it. So what happens when a man shows her kindness? (Inspired by les miserables)
1. Another Story

_So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of darkness pronnounced by scoiety, artificially creating scars amid the civilization of the earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny. So long as the the great problems of the century;the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of women throught hunger, and the crippling of child through lack of light, are unsolved. So long as scoial asphyxia is possible in any part of the world. So long as ignorance and poverty, exist on earth, stories of the nature of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, to Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist will be of great use to the people of the Earth_

Act One: The Prologue

Scene One: The Story

Cold...it was so very cold that year, the usually bustling town town of republic city had been brought to it's knees. Another winter storm had descended upon them with no mercy It rattled every window, snapped at any opening, and howled at every building. The cold seeped into any patch of open skin, numbing ears and lips, latching onto bare hands, and nipping feet.

Those who had it vanquished into shelter, those who didn't forced on their own way, carving out small, shelters, by exaust vents hoping for some form of heat. Republic city was dying, as infastructure fell appart, and children, were left abandoned with nowhere to go

The snow continued tumbling down in droves; carpeting the streets and successfully cutting the inner city off from the outside world. The City of Life had become a City of Ghosts. Even those most wretched of the streets had retreated from view; knowing business was over for this night. In lighter storms street urchins would have spilled out from the alleys, the city wholly theirs for those short hours preceding daybreak and the snow their temporary kingdom yet even they, the forgotten ones had battoned down their hatches rather than risk hypothermia's cold grasp. Within an hour, Republic City was conquered, the thick wind combined with biting snow blinding any living creature who dared challenge it

Yet out there in the darkness a lone figure silently trudged through the blasting wind, never stopping for a moment to catch her breath, she had no shoes, and wore tattered clothes around her, she had ingnored the signs of this blizzard, and had failed to find a hiding place, the face revealed two bright blues, which shined with a child like innocence that could only be found at eight years old, this mere child, our hero, was known as Korra.

'Look down, look down Don't look right in the snow' She thought bitterly as she carefully felt from building to building, with her eyes jamed shut

Some people or other had clothed her in rags out of charity. Still, she had a father and a mother. But his father did not think of her, and his mother did not love was one of those children most deserving of pity, among all, one of those who have father and mother, and who are orphans nevertheless, thrown out in the streets to fend for themselves.

Snow crunched, biting her feet, and bruising them painfully, she closed her eyes in the agony of not being able to see six inches in front of her face, and Korra now resorted to simply feeling around buildings, in an attempt to find a protected alleyway, or crevice of a building for an attempt to gather her bearings before finding a more workable temporary residence.

The piled snow upon the streets had now risen up to the little girl's knees, as she blindly walked from one building to another, until bumping into a building which showed some signs of life, Korra wiped away the snow from the window revealing a battered police symbol.

"This must be a police station" Korra mumbled looking up and seeing a warmly lit light at the area above, before looking at the iron door guarding the entrance of the small station. "It would be so simple...If I could just say for the night warm, they would let me do that right?" she thought logically to herself

She was shaken out of her thoughts as another gust of especially strong wing slammed into her, pushing her down. Dusting herself off, and looking again at the warmly lit light, Korra marched over to the door and knocked on it.

A few moments passed before the steel door sprung open revealing a rather tall male police officer covered in a thick wool blanket, the man, about three times her size glanced downward observing the sniveling child at his doorstep

"Please sir..." Korra started "Can I stay for the night" She asked while shivering, already feeling the heat exhaling from the apartment.

The Officer apathetically looked down upon the poor child before giving his answer by abruptly slamming the door shut with the force of his metal bending.

Korra sat there in the cold for a moment, a tiny glimmer of hope remained that the officer would be back offering up a bed and warm soup, however this thought quickly disappeared from her as she sighed sadly before continuing her quest for shelter.

She felt her way up the side of the police building until she found a rather small three foot alley between the police building and another stone building, as she squeezed and slid in between them, and almost immediately falling into a muddy puddle, soaking her, she took a discarded trash can lid to her side, and put it up at the entrance of the alleyway in an attempt to barricade herself inside,

Panting heavily Korra leaned against a building and slowly sank to her knees, hugging herself tighter in a futile attempt to stay warm. Korra curled into as compact a ball as possible and wrapped her clothes around her freezing form. A deep cough shook her small form as Korra hugged her little body, desperately seeking warmth that would not come to her. She was tucked tightly against a brick wall in an alleyway, snow lightly littering the ground around her and sending a chill through her small form.

She now took off her soaked jacket, which had more or less turned into a rag at thing point, and grunting forced some of the muddy water out of the thin fabric, before carefully putting it back on.

She smiled a sort of half smile, that her water bending had done the trick, before her kind made contorted back into a blank frown, as the little girl returned to her work, looking around her newfound home. Conviently lying there were a couple of stray pieces of wood which looked like they belonged to a fence of something of that nature.

She internally rejoiced at her tiny triumph, before carefully looking around and bending a small fire in her hands, and slashing it at the wood in order to make a more permenate source of heat.

This effort however was in vain, as the tiny flame which she had managed to muster hit the wood before dissipating into the frigid air, leaving only a few glowing orange sparks on the wood, taunting Korra with the promise of warmth

"Stupid" Korra said to herself, "I shouldn't have even risked fire bending, what if somebody saw me" She sighed angrily at herself

As she looked upon those dying embers she took a second to realize that she was truly alone. She would just like someone anyone simply to notice her existence. Yet now she felt the need of sleep tug at her tired eyes.

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Korra had been sleeping for about two hours, before, she felt something metal snaking around her leg, she forced her tired body up abruptly, just as the metal cable went taught and startred forcing her her out of the crevice, she could feel the sharp edges of the metal biting into her legs like jaws, yet she held on to the remains of an out streached brick wall for only a few moments.

The little girl, her tiny strength now fleeing her finally broke her grip desperately clawing at the ground, trying to gain some leverage with her one good foot, and get to a more defendable position back inside her little shelter.

This was of no use, as the metal strip binding her right leg snapped foward suddenly, swinging her outside. Next she felt her face slam into the ice outside before finally making a more solid land on a slab of concrete, the crash broke skin as Korra , started to feel blood, slide down, the right side of her face.

Soon she felt a similar feeling grace the leg which the wire a had wrapped around, which now began it's own steady flow of blood. The blizzard had now stopped for the time being yet the sky remained cloudy with promise of more snow. She heard a voice about nine feet away from her, which had a slow rather brutish tone to it.

"Hey this is that girl that I kicked out earlier" it echoed throughout the street presumably to another human being.

It then dawned on Korra that it was the officer that had given her such a warm welcoming at the station, she slept right beside, as she turned over and looked at him. a frown gracing her feature's turned into little more than a pout.

"At least he can talk now" she whispered silently to herself before getting up to face her tormenter, behind him was a rather skinny man who simply watched on as the scene progressed. Korra noticed that they both had on heavy standard issue police winter coats, and metal helments, they stared down the girl threateningly, and Korra cocked up her eye brow wondering what this was all about.

"You are under arrest for trespassing on police property, you street rat" The large slow one said with the same gruff tone of superiority.

Korra blinked slightly an felt the slight urge to laugh, but quickly forced it down and casted a confused look at the man before saying "Don't you have anything better to do?" she asked

The man seemingly ingnored her, before taking out a pair of hand cuffs and walking towards her, Korra responded quickly by jumping to the side and water bending the snow and causing it to turn into ice, causing the man to slip and fall down on his face, His partner, now jumped into action swinging a wire of metal at her

Korra simply side stepped, before turning around and doing what any animal would do in the face of danger: run

She quickly water bended the alley way behind her, causing the men to slip and slide around her back shouting various curses, and vulgarities as the little girl sprinted away.

Korra bolted down the street before checking back she slamed into a structure that refused to move, Korra looked up and saw it was human, before jumping back. When she tried to run again a shot of metal stopped her in her tracks as she realized that the unknown figure was another police officer, she flinched backwards before instinctively firebending at it, out of sheer fear, the figure blocked the ball of flame skillfully, before roughly grabbing Korra's hands.

Korra looked quietly down at the snow knowing she had been caught, and not wanting to look a the hard metal helmet of a police officer, yet after about twenty seconds, she did look up to see a rugged face of a middle age woman whith only slightly greying hair, she had a blank stare, and wore a heavy trench coat over her metal armor.

Korra decided that it was better not to make eye contact with this particular person, as she felt sick to her stomach under that steely gaze. The lady police officer took a moment to look over her before saying "That was strong fire bending for someone your age, who taught you, was it prehaps Master Jeong-Jenog on Pike street.

The voice was even and calm, which have somehow made Korra even more scared, as she dared to look up at the police officer again

"No...I was never taught by anyone" Korra bluntly said trying to be as small as possible

It was the truth and the police woman took it as such, now lightening up the grip on Korra's hands as she realized that the little girl would not dare attack her for any reason other than self defence. "You can go now" the Police woman said "I'll take care of those two". Then the Police woman looked up to see two huffing unhealthy officers, as they made it over the hill, "fast for a kid" she thought "odd she doesn't even look ethnically fire nation, she looks more like a water tribe girl" the policewoman let go of Korra's hands, before turning to her fellow officers

The big slow talking one, was now as red as a tomato, and yelled to her, "Captain Bei Fong!" He yelled between breaths "Be careful that girl is a water bender!"

" Wait...a water bender, but I thought she was a fire bender" Bei Fong thought

Captain Bei Fong turned abruptly the see the girl getting into a running position, a look of horror now graced Korra's features as she realized her mistake. "But thats not possible unless-" she dodged an ice ball that had been quickly thrown by the girl in a attempt to throw her off, Bei Fong gracefully fired a metal cable at the girl but came up only a few feet short narrowly missing Korra's feet .

"After her" Captain Bei Fong barked "She is the avatar"

She was running, running with all of her left over strength. She had no clue of where she was going she just needed to get away, away from all the danger had gotten herself into. She knew they were gaining on her their thick police boots crunching throughout the snow. Her blue eyes scanned her surrounding looking for any way she could escape. She sharply turned right into an alleyway not knowing how she ended up in the situation.

She turned right again at another alley intersection, only to find a rather large chain link fence, sighing a bit Korra quickly latched on the the chain link fence, and started climbing over it raipidly, the cold metal slicing at her already bruised feet, before reaching the top

She quickly leaped away from the top of the fence, as gravity came into effect and forced her to crash on the ice painful but unharmed, she used her remaining momentum to slide down thae alleyway, only to recover on her feet and turn left, just as she heard the fence being ripped open by the brute force of metal bending

Korra quickly ran down the alleyway only to meet a open square once part of a park but had now degraded into another slum, with several alleyways protruding from it. In the center there was a statue which had been completely effaced by erosion.

In a less dangerous circumstance Korra would have stopped to realize how nice the place could have looked with some work. But right now the sound of a metal cable being fired at her feet was the top priority in her mind, as she quickly ran towards the oppsite alleyway.

This alleyway was intense with litter and rubble making it difficult to navigate. Korra used the tight brick walls for support as she moved swiftly downhill. She lost footing and slammed face first onto the the cement side walk going down hill. Rolling head over feet Korra came to rest before getting back up, before turning around to observe her sorroundings.

She was Infront of a gushing river that led into the harbor of Republic city, there was an easy dropoff point that was the perfect place to hide, she slid towards it using the ice to gain momentum, before launching her self into the river, and slipping herself among the walls and silently moving to the other side of the river

Captain Bei Fong had now reached the river, only to see that the avatar was gone, she lazily sighed before trying to observe the little girl's tracks, which lead towards the river, but ended in skid marks, leading to nowhere. Bei Fong gave a sigh bfore picking herself up, and observing the other various path's that the girl could have taken. before looking at the river,

"Captain Bei Fong" one of the policemen asked "Do you want us to get an unit to search the river?"

" No she likely went into one of the side alleyways" Bei Fong sighed before looking down to the harbor and stood there for awhile contemplating her next move before saying "Alert all units of the little girls description, it is absolutely nessary that we find her unharmed is that understood" she sharply ordered.

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So Korra retreated into into the outskirts of town until moving into a rather rual area, her feet crunching in the snow, the area was of frosty magnificence, The road had frozen and was hard so she prefered, traveling upon the side of the road, darkness cloaking her, as the ice radiated, and reflected in the pale moon light.

To her right was a thick forest in which shadows moved silently forming and separating , and vanishing into the frost. To her left was a sort of field where, every few 500 feet, there would be a warm house, lights heated from the inside, and radiating out into the otherwise desolate landscape, adding some form of color, within this world of black, white, and grey.

The snow had stopped now, and the stars had grown visible, throughout the darkness, and seemingly as a result of this the air had grown even colder, there was a slight wind which rattled the trees, but besides this all was silent, the only sound being the soft crunch under Korra's feet.

Due to the cold weather the snow between Korra's feet had turned to ice, as each step became more painful for the small girl walking on the side of the road.

A sort of sound broke Korra out of her focus as the wind stopped, she quickly bumbled over into a bush on the side of the road ingnoring the fact that her feet were now bleeding, a small family had broken her silence as they joyfully walked down the side of the road and towards her their likely destination being one of the various warmly lit houses she had seen earlier.

It was a family of three a mother, father, and daughter, just something else Korra knew she couldn't have as she watched silently past encounters telling her not to trust these people. She simply watched them pass muttering words which she couldn't quite hear yet were clearly words of joy.

She just stayed there not wanting to think, as they passed and once they were out of sight, Korra crawled out again, as the wind and shadows returned to their rightful places and she continued on movements through the area.

After a few more miles she came across a rather good sized stone structure with other similarly designed structures around it, the main building had three beautiful arches at it's front each leading into a massive bronze door. They were fantastically decorated with a rather odd type of tree, with similar designs on each door. The upper area in the stone structure appeared to be three panels of beautiful colored glass, with the middle one having the design of a bright blue cross decorated with gold and white linings.

near the windows at the top of the structure, were great stone guardians that appeared to be lion-turtles with wings sprouting from their backs staring down with a frosty gaze at all trespassers.

Yet Korra disregarded these things and out of a desire for warmth sneaked over to the massive doors and tried to open the middle one to no avail. After trying the other two she snuck around the back of the structure and found a graveyard, along with a pavilion which was also made of stone, under the pavilion was a bench and wooden door. She tied to open it, thinking to use her bending before deciding to sleep outside not wanting to get caught in a breaking and entering issue with the police.

She lied down onto the cold bench and made as warm of an enclosure as she could before drifting off to a dark dreamless sleep.

Unknown to Korra the structure was known as a church, and it held a kind bishop who was known by the name of Iroh. There are men who toil at extracting gold; he toiled at the extraction of love. Universal misery was his mine. The sadness which reigned everywhere was but an excuse for unfailing kindness. Love each other; he declared this to be complete, desired nothing further, and that was the whole of his doctrine.

It was because of this that the good Bishop decided to circle the perimeter when he heard a knocking on the door, with a tender thought in his heart. When Iroh passed upon a small child in the courtyard asleep, he could not help but feel sympathetic

As Iroh move closer, Korra ripped up in a furry, water already formed in her hand ready to strike, Iroh didn't flinch, but first simply backed up getting into an unthreatening position, "Do not worry, little one I will not hurt you"

Korra stood strong water still hanging in the air, not trusting the man and contemplating an escape route, she then took a moment to look at the man, he held a small flame in his hand for light, thus showing him as a firebender, he was draped in a (warm) red cloak, which had maroon center which gradually radiated outwards into a gradually brighter version of red. On his head he wore a night cap also red matching the cloak.

At a first glance Korra would have figured the man fat, until upon closer inspection she figured out this was muscle. His head was round with a bald head and a grey santa clause type beard. His eyes were a muted orange which radiated kindness, and goodwill, this slowly lowered her guard

Iroh within this time period of about thirty seconds, had preformed his own inspection upon the messy watertribe girl,

The child looked weary, with completely ratty clothing, a shirt was the first thing that dawned her form, which appeared to be slowly falling appart, on top of this was a rather thin cotten jacket, which by this point had more or less disentegrated into mpore of a blanket, no shoes, and falling appart pants, and what appeared to be a fresh cut on her cheek, topped off by pure blue eyes full of fear.

As Korra lowered her hands realizing the kind old man meant no harm, he started to speak in a crackly-wise voice "Come in, little one, for you are weary, and the night is cold out our lives are very humble, what we have, we have to share."

He moved over to the wooden door, and opened it with a key, and slowly walked in, to a magnificent array of stain glass designs, whose, light was powered by the moonlight. before moving her over to the fire, which she instantly got by before starting to warm her self.

"There is water here to revive you, there is bread to make you strong. There's a bed to rest 'til morning, rest from pain, and rest from wrong..."

After being fed and watered by the kind priest, Iroh even provided a bed for her filthy body, they had dined on fine silver, as Korra has noticed and that caught her interest, a small plan formed within her mind, the silver, she could do so much with that silver, all she had to do was take it. No one would notice and she would only take a little, so as the church was lying in bed fast asleep, Korra found a small burlap bag among the storage areas within the church's walls, silently she grabbeded, as much silver, and stuffed it into the sack, before running away from the church within the night.

Korra did not know where she was going, only that she had to get away. She had wandered randomly before arriving at the church and so she would not have been able to head anywhere specific even if she had not been too preoccupied to plan that far ahead.

She just knew that she had to get away. The deed was done, the silver was stolen, and now there was nothing to do but escape. Images flashed through her mind, memories of her escape from the police when she had been just as terrified of being caught as she was now.

Now every slight sound was the footsteps of people and every movement or even distant tree was a potential enemy lying in wait. Waiting to capture her and take her back to to police.

She knew that the police would be looking for her. But would they be able to tell that she had stolen silver in her make shift backpack. But the silver burned just the same. No she could not get caught. Why had she taken the silver? Why had she not taken it earlier? Korra could be out of Republic city by now! She had to get away.

While had almost missed the local police that suddenly appeared right in front of her. Where had they come from? She could not go back. The silver burned. She was not even touching it but that made no difference.

There were four of them and one of them stepped forward.

"Well," he drawled. "It seems a strange time of day for an honest person to be travelling."

Korra froze immediately.

"Don't you know these streets are not safe?" another asked.

"Perhaps she knows that," the first said. "Perhaps she is why the streets are not safe."

"She does look like she is running away," the third noted. "But what is she fleeing? Thieves and murderers in the night or the law?"

"We shall have to see," decided the first. "We will need to see what you have in that bag."

She should say something, she thought vaguely. She did not know what to say. They would see the silver and then it would not have mattered because they would never believe whatever lie she could come up with. She had no words that could improve the situation and so it was best to stay silent or something that somehow made it worse.

She silently reached and heaved from her back the bag of silver. What else could she do? They would not let her leave until they saw it. They would not let her leave once they had seen it.

The policeman practically snatched it from her hands.

"Silver," a different one said. "That's no surprise. I wonder what she's up to."

"I was right, then, that she was running away."

"Well," the first policeman said quietly. "That answers that question. It's too late to do anything tonight but if we wait until tomorrow somebody will report their silver gone and that will answer that question. Unless you would like to save us some time and just tell us what poor soul you took this from?"

At being addressed, Korra was started. She reminded herself that she was not in the policeroom yet. She had not even been placed in handcuffs yet though that would come soon. They would not believe her but she did not have to stand here and just watch the rest of her life disappear into that cursed place.

"Please, Mister, I did not steal it," she said hurriedly. "There was a priest, of a church. It is his silver, that is true, but I did not steal it. H-He gave it to me."

The disbelief on the policeman's face was painfully clear. "Did he now?"

"He did. He…He told me that I had come from a very unhappy place and that I was welcome in his home. He said that everything there was mine. He let me eat at his table and sleep in his spare bed and he gave this to me," Korra lied. She hoped that she was not lying badly. She really did not know how well she lied.

"If he let you stay and gave you this silver then why are you behaving so suspiciously and why leave at this hour, in the middle of the night?" challenged the policeman.

Korra replied. "I have a lot of walking to do and cannot afford to wait."

"That is a lot of silver," the policeman replied. "You could not afford to travel any way but walking?"

"No one would take a street rat like me" Korra said, though in truth it had not occurred to her to look for another way.

The policeman nodded thoughtfully. "Ah, yes, I can see that. I cannot blame them for being cautious."

No, no one ever blamed them. They spoke of wanting to be safe and yet had no problem sending the 'dangerous street rat' out in the cold when if she were truly dangerous she would make them pay for what they had done.

"I know that you have a very strict schedule, so here is the deal we will release you once your story is confirmed. We cannot possibly wake someone up to ask if they have been stolen from and so you will remain with us until a more reasonable hour."

Korra felt her blood run cold. They were not going to send her back immediately and were at least going to make sure that she was guilty. That was more than she had expected but she could not be grateful for it because she was, in fact, quite guilty. She had just a few hours of freedom left before she was sent back to republic city for the rest of her life.

And what freedom she had had! Days of scavenging for food and spending most of the time walking.

She suddenly felt her arms seized. Instinctively she tensed but but wisely decided to not react more than that. It would appear that she was not to be chained at this point but seized by the arms and marched forward. It did not matter. At least she would not feel the chains for a little while longer.

The four of them set out, Korra not paying any particular attention to where they were going. It did not matter. She would not leave until she was taken back to a place where she would wait until she was returned. But it was not unwelcome to have a little more time out of her chains before they were fitted on and she would wear them until she died.

It was a silent march to the jail and she was placed in a cell. She sat down on the floor, suddenly feeling very tired. She and the policemen were the only ones in there except for the turnkey and two guards. Republic city outskirts was a town without much crime then.

"We should just round up all the street rats and force them into labor camps" she heard one of the policemen whisper

"We cannot keep people past their sentence and those that continue to lead a life of crime go back to prison where they belong."

"That's only once we've caught them. They can do so much evil before they are caught sometimes. And even this wretch could have committed other crimes before we caught her here. Do we even know that no one has been hurt?"

"We will find out in the morning. But do recall that, while it's probable that this child stole, we will not know that for sure until tomorrow morning."

The second Policeman gave his grudging agreement and then the four of them left.

From her place on the floor, she could not see the two guards but they must still be there. She could have stood up or moved to try and find them but she did not see the point.

It was all over. She had been waiting for this chance for years and now it was over.

She thought about her predicament but it just did not make sense. How had she come to be here? How had that little police argument led her to this? It was unreal. No matter how many times she thought about it, no matter the fact that she had lived it, it just did not make any sense.

Feeling very sorry for herself and desirous of escaping her situation, she lay down on the floor. It was much more comfortable than that bed had been for the very reason that it was familiarly uncomfortable. The floor was filthy but then so was she. She wondered absently what those nice white sheets had looked like after she had slept in them. she hadn't thought to look. It did not matter.

That silver could have bought her a new life for herself. It was important that that money, earned so painstakingly, not be parted from her so easily. But they would take it back when she was really arrested. They would take it back and it would be the government's, with her robbed again!

It was just the latest of a very long list of roles society had cast on her that she had failed at. The anger at society flared up but it was familiar and it did not bother her.

She replayed the moment in her head, the moment she had taken the silver. She imagined herself just leaving the house or perhaps even going back up to bed. She could almost believe that it had happened but she just had to open her eyes to look around to see that it had not.

She had not been able to fall asleep again in that nice, comfortable white bed with her confusion over the preist's foolish kindness and his blind trust. Now, however, lying on a floor that felt like a plank and hopeless thoughts drifting through her mind she easily fell asleep again.

She was woken up by the policemen returning. She had felt less confused waking up this time than she had every other time she had woken up. She stood up and they unlocked the door.

She was woken up by their returning. She had felt less confused as three of them grabbed him and the third held her knapsack.

The police exchanged a few words with the guards but Korra wasn't listening. She kept her eyes firmly on the ground. She had no desire to see the priest's face when she was returned to him along with the silver.

All she could think about was how she never wanted the moment when the priest proved her a liar to come, how she never wanted the moment she would be in the pain to come. But no matter how much she dreaded it,she could not stop the inevitable from occurring.

As they walked back to the Priest's house, she could feel the dread rising up in her with every step. She wished that they would just arrest her and not bother with this. They all knew what they were going to find. Perhaps if she just admitted it then they would not take her back there. But she found that she could not. She could not play an active role in destroying herself.

But she did not want to see the priest again. The priest had been so bewildering last night. Korra had told him who she was immediately and he had welcomed her in. He did not want money or to treat Korra as less than a human. He had given her water when he would not drink any himself. He had been good, really good. Korra did not believe in that sort of goodness and yet she could think of no other way to explain what had happened. The Priest, she concluded, must have been a good man because the world had been good to him and he had known no suffering. What reason did one who had never been wronged by the world have to be bitter or to not trust? korra must have been the first street rat he had ever met.

The priest would be so angry. He had trusted Korra and given her the best that he had had and look what had happened. 'The townspeople were right', he would say. 'I should have turned this rat out.' If he had then he would not have lost his silver, however temporarily, and Korra might be free to go right now. He would be hurt that someone would take from him when he had been so good. He would be disappointed that not everyone was a saint like him. Korra did not want to see it. Why were these police going to make her see it?

She did not notice when they reached the priest's house and she almost walked into the policeman not holding her.

"Come in," the Priest called.

"What?" Korra heard herself say

"Silence!" the person in front of her snapped. He did not hit her, though. Korra was expecting to be hit. "He is Monseigneur the Bishop."

No. No that couldn't be right. She had seen a bishop before. Bishops had pointed gold on their heads and fine robes. They went to the slums once in nineteen years and stood too far away to have been heard. He would not appear without cannons pointed at the people to make absolutely sure that he was safe. He was rich and lived in a palace like the one nearby. He wanted nothing to do with a convict and would not invite such a poor child to stay when everyone else had rejected her. He could not be a bishop. Korra had seen a bishop before and this man was nothing like him.

But the people who lived in this town would know who their bishop was, wouldn't they? And they would have no reason to insult anybody by pretending that this priest was a bishop when he was not one.

This was a bishop.

So she had stolen from a bishop who was kind to her instead of a priest. She would be thrown in prison for this starving out the rest of her life

The bishop hurried towards them as fast as he could at his age. If Korra lived to be his age would she still be in prison or would he be transferred to a prison for those who could not work?

"Ah! Here you are!" the Iroh exclaimed. He did not sound angry or hurt or disappointed. If the captors were surprised at his respectful address then Korra did not see it.

"Mister Iroh we have your silver" one exclaimed holding up the bag like a trophy " She maintains you made a present of this silver"

"That is right." Iroh then turned to Korra "But my friend you left so early surely something slipped your mind" The old bishop went to the right getting two massive candle sticks each made out of five pounds of silver, before putting them down infront of Korra "you forgot I gave these also would you leave the best behind?" Iroh answered

Korra's eyes widened and she stared at the bishop. It was only her long habit of silence and her shock that kept her from asking why the bishop was saying this when it was not true. She almost said it as it was, as a question mark formed within her mind. Was he pretending that she had been given the silver? Was he taunting her by pretending he had given the silver when they all knew that he hadn't and reminding Korra just how bad of a thief she was that she hadn't even taken everything?

To be a thief was bad enough but she could not even be a proper one. But that did not seem right. The bishop was not a cruel man. Korra would be denounced, yes, because she had stolen the silver, because that was logical, but she would not be taunted. So why had Iroh said that he had given Korra the silver? Was he really saying that he had given more?

The two captors holding her gruffly seemed to have no more of an idea than she did. "Mister Iroh, so what this wretch said is true, then? We came across her. She was walking like a person who is running away. We stopped her to look into the matter. She had this silver-"

"And she told you that it had been given to her by a kind old fellow of a priest with whom she had passed the night?" the bishop interrupted, smiling. No one dared say anything to him when he interrupted. Nobody looked like they minded. "I see how the matter stands. And you have brought her back here? It is a mistake."

It is a mistake. What did that mean? He could not really be lying to the captors to protect Korra! the thief who had abused his kindness and stolen his silver, it simply didn't make logic

It was a mistake. What the bishop was saying now was a mistake and he would soon realize it.

"In that case we can let her go?" the captor asked, sounding surprised and reluctant. He had caught a thief, and he did not want to let her go. But if the thief had said that she had not stolen and the victim had agreed then what could he do?

Here was where the bishop would come to his senses, would realize that if he said this then Korra would go free and he would not get his silver back. Korra had broken the law so the bishop, however kind he was, would not be doing anything wrong in admitting that it had happened. If he did not want to send Korra back out in the cold then it was not his fault. People never blamed themselves when they were not the one arrested no matter how much they had to do with the crime and all the bishop had done was shelter her and let her see the silver.

"Certainly Monsieurs you may release her for this child has spoken true. I commend you for your duty may God's blessing go with you.."

No. No this was not right, this could not be. She must be dreaming. This was not how life went. She was once a thief and forever a thief and there was no mercy or pity to be found anywhere. There were no second chances and there was no new life waiting, least of all for her.

But the captors released her and stepped away and she couldn't help but shrink back.

After a moment she managed to compose herself enough to ask, "Is it true that I am to be released?"

She had already been released but it did not make sense.

"Yes, you are released, do you not understand?" the one captor asked, looking at her like she was a fool for not understanding or for questioning good fortune. Perhaps she was a fool. Perhaps that was why things had turned out so. Normally, this sort of thing would make her angry but he just stood there uncomprehendingly. It was not so difficult of a concept, being let go. She would not go to prison, nor would she be captured by the police as the bishop said a crime had not happened. It should be simple. It was not.

The guards slowly slinked away form the church closing the door shut "My friend," the bishop said warmly. Was he talking to Korra? How could he be? She had stolen from him and made a man of God lie for her. Why was he doing this? Why was he not throwing Korra out of the house now that the danger had passed? "Before you go, here are your candlesticks. Take them."

He had really meant that? A bishop was a wealthy man, he knew that. To live like a poor man did not make sense and now he would live as an even poorer one? Why? Because Korra needed it more? Korra had certainly believed that he had but no one else ever thought she needed as much as an honest man.

She couldn't stop the trembling. Her whole body was trembling. She wondered vaguely if she would be able to stay on her feet. The bishop picked up the candle sticks and held them out. What else could she do but accept them? She did not understand.

"Now go in peace," the Iroh invited. Who was this man? "By the way, when you return, my friend, it is not necessary to pass through the garden. You can always enter and depart through the street door. It is never fastened with anything but a latch, either by day or by night."

Was that the closest to censure that she was going to get? The next time she was going to escape from the bishop's house she could use the front door because the bishop trusted so much that he never locked it? How had this man stayed alive for so long if he never locked his doors? Korra could had almost hurt him last night! But…she hadn't and perhaps no one else had been able to bring themselves to, either.

But how did the bishop know that she had gone through the garden?

She had stolen from the bishop and the bishop had saved her from prison. He had let her keep the silver she had stolen and given her more. He was speaking more kindly still than last night before Korra had wronged him. And now he was inviting her to return. This did not make any sense. None of this had gone the way that it was supposed to.

She felt faint.

The bishop stepped closer to her and quietly said "But remember this, my sister, see in this some higher plan, you must use this precious silver to become an honest person. By the witness of the martyrs by the passion and the blood, God has raised you out of darkness, I have saved your soul for God"

Korra did not recall having ever made such a promise. How could she have? She had never asked for the silver, only taken it. Would the bishop have asked her to make just such a promise if she had asked for the silver? Might she have been given it? It was like the chase except this time it was not going to ruin her life. This time would…she did not even know.

The world did not work like this. People were not this good.

The bishop turned around. "Ah, Madame Magloire will you bring a glass of warm milk? I believe that I promised one to our guest. And it's much too late to send her away without breakfast! I do believe we have some bread left."

She did remember that the bishop had promised her the warm milk but that had been before she had stolen from him and run away. If she had not been caught and returned then she would not have had to face the bishop's forgiveness and continued generosity. The end result would be the same, she would still be free, but it would be so much easier if she had just never been brought back here.

And now, to face the prospect of sitting down to breakfast with the bishop and and to be treated like any other person as if the last few hours had never happened…she could not do that. It was intolerable.

It was not hard to see what was passing in the her mind. When the soul has been caged, beaten, and made like that of the dumb animals, thoughts are but the more clearly read.

Pain burned in her dark pupils, the sadness of a cornered animal. Fear could be seen in her eyes as well, shadowed as they were by the poor light. Fear of pain, if a loaf of bread could give a person five years in prison, how much more would he have for the value of this silver? And yet through the anger, the pain, the fear, there shone something else. Much smaller and less noticeable than the others, yet it was there.

Shame.

The animals did not feel shame. There was no remorse for them after an offense, only people were capable of that. And this thing; this filthy, exhausted, broken thief, was still a person.

She was a person so full of fear that she would possibly never reemerge from the prison. She would die as lost as she was now; as impoverished as she was born. If there was one thing to be learned from the study of religon, it was that mercy reigns supreme. No person, no matter how poor, how evil, could find forgiveness and acceptance. Here on earth, people were set to share this love, to be the examples copying that which most people couldn't see.

He was one of those people.

And if he let this one child slip into the grasp of sorrow, he would have failed in his work. This is why Iroh had helped her. It was now Korra who found herself at a crossroad as she retreated to the church courtyard, contemplating what was to become of her.

Her guilt surged throughout her body, as she stood in the statue garden, they seemed to be seemed to be judging her in silent cold embrace, a a jury forever silent on their verdict.

She was not used to kindness, so she had lashed out, and thus should have to pay for her crime, this she would understand, so why did she feel so bad. The world had never been kind to her before so why she she be kind back.

The world didn't cry for her when she was beaten and left for dead by her parents, noone had shown a single sobbing tear, she had always lived in an "Eye for an Eye world, that did not allow for pity, to survive she had to turn her heart into stone.

This was why she could stand the cold, why she didn't care when her father had attacked her, and her mother had watched on. How she could hide in the puddles under buildings to cower away from gang shoot outs.

So sure she had stolen before, dodged on scraps to survive, she did because she had to, and yet none of these had mattered before, why should they, she needed..no she deserved those tools for survival rather than the people who had access to those things on a dialy basis. But this man sent a new emotion towards her, kindness, and the strength of heart. He had given her his best, and still she demanded more.

She was reaching for his light, the kindness, yet she was to fall, into the sky which was black and cold, as she stared into the void, into the whirlpool of her shame.

The bishop had saved her, this was true, by one simple word she would be back within the dark confines of Republic city, at the point in it's decadence, and corruption, and yet this great man, with his almightly power had bothered to look, down and see the people at his feet, he had introduced a new words to Korra, mercy, forgiveness, kindness, they swirled around in her head melting together.

Korra stopped at the tallest statue a woman holding a baby child, the stoney gaze was not judgemental, this time, no the statue appeared to present a different mood, pity, mercy, care, Korra stared at it for a few moments, before falling down on her knees and bowing her head, and looking back up at the statue, and then looking back down.

And then she wept.

"Oh what have I done? What have I done" she said between sobs "Become a thief to the good, nomore than a dog on the run. Have I fallen so far and is the timing so late that nothing remains but the cry of my hate. Those cries in the dark that nobody hears, and yet this might be the turning of the years."

She found the rag that was her jacket, it was now just a symbol, of her life, her pain, she suddenly became angry, ripping up the jacket and walking outside, and facing the dark angry clouds "I'll escape for from that world" She yelled at the sky "For the horror of my life, this means nothing to me now"

She starts to rip her jacket up, as the fabric is soon in tatters "And the story must begin!" she yells throwing the bits which blew away in the wind

The End

_The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather in spite of ourselves._

_Victor Hugo_

_**Please Review! This is the revised prologue, I'm looking for an editor/beta reader**_


	2. Council Member Korra

_**Hey thanks for all the reviews**_

_**KHlegacy: Thnaks for the reviews, everyone read her stories, they are much better than this junk**_

_**Sammi: hey thanks for the review, I do plan on continuing this, but not as fast as I would like**_

_**Avatar Sangmu: I do thank you for your review, however this is inspired by les miserables, not based on it, it starts out similar but is planned be be a story of it's own, I do not plan on copying the actual story, but again I do appreciate your review.**_

_**I do not own LOK **_

"_It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live. Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake. Certain dreams are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees." _

― _Victor Hugo_

_Act 1_

_Scene 1 The Great reunion_

_It has been nine years since the Bishop and Korra is now seventeen. She has made a new life for herself with the help of hard work and the bishop's support and has even been voted to be the youngest councilwoman in Republic city. Underground there is talk, talk of rebellion, as the general populace grows more miserable. The newly crowned council woman has a scheduled meeting with the now Cheif of police Lin Bei Fong who is to introduce her to the political of republic city.._

Korra and Tarlock walked on the grey streets to the office, Korra in truth did not trust him, but the mad had insisted stating that she was a "Non-bender" and the fact that she could be mugged. The fact that Korra was a bender was known to only a few people, and only two of those knew her as the avatar. I was a guise that everyone simply seemed to assume around her bettering her cover.

"I notice you are very kind to your workers, Miss Korra" Tarlock went on like a snake "five dollars an hour, average wage is $2.34 for a 9-hr. shift. You not only doubled that, but you also shaved an hour off the workday."

She had gone public with the decision about two weeks ago, and the decision had actually produced a positive impact on her workers, that put their extra income into the products that they were paid to make, increasing her total gross profit, her risk had worked.

"I am merely a servent for my workers" Korra replied "It is my duty to look after the comman man" she said while unlocking the door to her office, She saw a woman dressed in a metal armor a police uniform "If you will excuse me councilman" Korra said giving a slight bow

"Of course council woman" Tarlock said returning the bow before turning around and walking the other way

Korra turned to see the chief of police, she was older now, with greying hair and two distinct scars on the side of her face, yet Korra remembered after all these years, even with the scars, yet she was able to put on a smile

Chief Bei Fong was still as daunting as ever standing at least a total foot taller than Korra herself, she had a steely gaze that managed be threatenly calm "Good afternoon Chief, lovely weather we're having"

"It's cold Council Woman" the Chief said coldly, while gazing at the mixture of the miserable streets mixed with the polluted sloshy snow, the sky was covered in a dull grey, almost as dull as the Chief's eyes.

"Please call me Korra" she said smoothly opening the door and turning on the lights, revealing a sparsely lit office desk with various paper cabnits and files around it. Papers layed about the place, and articles layed around waiting for someone to file them away.

"Sorry about the mess" Korra said clearing off some papers from a chair

"it is no problem" Chief Bei Fong answered "I am simply happy that I have finally been able to meet you, and I must give my compliments, you have shown exceptional ability, you are the youngest council member on record and yet you already act like one of the oldest"

"Thank you Chief" Korra said shortly

"Have I met you before, you seem to look familiar"

"I do not think so, your face is not one I would forget" Korra lied skillfully before changing the subject "Now I was wondering, was being done about the poverty level"

"What?" Beifong ask surprised at the sudden randomness of the question

"I have a group of kids outside of the building, they have no home, and I was wondering what could be done to help them" Korra explained

"Well miss Korra if they happened to be of trouble to you than I am sure that we could find a place for them in the criminal work houses" The Chief explained before looking a Korra's shocked face "They are likely stealing from the honest and the good of Republic city"

"But Chief they are boys, no more than ten" Korra retaliated hammering a fist in her desk, "They are our future should we not protect them"

"They are thieves, why should others toil over them and give a free pass, when people such as us, even you have worked so hard and attained your position, we all pay our taxes for them why should we fight for those who break the law"

"We fight to get ahead, they fight to survive, it is much different"

"You are young and you still have much to learn, however I will look into your-"

The Door slammed open as a boy rushed through it he was covered in coal dust, and dressed in a pair of fading overall, a brown T-shirt and black newsboy's cap, he wore no shoes and by the look of his feet, the boy had been with out them for quite some time. His face held green eyes full of fear, as he puffed and heaved yelling incomplete ideas and sentences, which no one could understand.

After a few seconds of this babbling the chief had had enough, and sharply slammed her fist down on Korra's wooden desk, making a metal sound, and standing up threateningly yelling "how dare you interrupt our conversation"

After a few seconds of awkward silence, the boh finally gathered himself to speak "Miss Korra someone fell inside of the river, he's gone in too deep and we can't get him out"

Korra ripped up suddenly before roughly taking up a winter coat and putting up her hood "I will be with you in a moment" she said roughly to the chief before following them out of the office,

She followed the boy down an alleyway along with Chief Bei Fong who had decided to join them, before meeting at the middle of the river which fed into Republic City harbor, sure enough there in the middle of the river a small child held on to a piece of wood though the rough currents for dear life, as others watched helplessly from the edge.

Without hesitation Korra quickly jumped into the middle of the river the water enveloping her ask she waterbended herself over to the boy, who was now sinking and unconscious, she felt the ice nip at her ears as she forced her self downward, moving into the black water after the boy's falling form

She finally grabbed onto a tattered coat which provided a grip as her eyes glowed momentarily and renewed strength flowed through her veins, water spiraled around them pulling both her and the boy far out of the waterk and landing them, safely onto the ground. Some one grabbed the boy from her pulling him to safety as she picked herself up seeing a small crowd of people who gathered during her little escape operation she picked herself up and water bended all excess water out of her clothes, before turning to see a surprised Bei Fong

"Is this true, I can't believe was I see, I did not know that you could bend, and yet a woman your age, and you as strong as you are, a memory stirs, and makes me think back to a little girl, from years ago, who was also skilled for her age, she disappeared, I never did get her name..." Lin Bei Fong said awestruck

Korra brushed this off with little notice "It has been an honor to meet you Chief Bei Fong, I am sad to say I have an appointment with my assistant" She bowed as Chief bowed back

"We will meet again Miss Korra"She said

The End

**1:Henry Ford Introduced a five dollar a day work wage and cut his workers time by an hour.**


	3. Introductions

Introductions

Korra woke up to the sound of off tune ringing, and groaned before prying her eyes open. She turned her head to look at the screaming mechanical clock, to see the time of 08:00 am. She groaned louder as her head fell back onto her dark navy blue sheets. She thought seriously about going back to sleep before deciding to get up off her lazy bum. She groaned one last time, more for the heck of it than anything else, before sitting up, and abruptly smashing her hand down on the clock effectively silencing it, before rubbing her face with her hand.

She stood up on the hardwood floor, and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She had been working late last night, as was clearly shown by her messy hair, and dark circles under her eyes. Korra had forgotten to close her window last night, and when she didn't her room got unbearably cold, to cool air from the outside soon enveloped her, as she grumbled over to the window to close it.

Before closing it, she poked her head out and leaned out, resting her head on her elbows. The black fire escape's stairs somewhat blocked her view of downtown Republic had a corner apartment so both her and Asami, had a window and a fire escape, even though their rooms were across the hall from each other. But what she could see was amazing, the streets were buzzing with people and cars. Drivers honked their horns as they inched toward in rush hour traffic. Korra could hear people arguing in the little market down the street, and dog-seals barking in excitement. She could vaguely see and smell the mist rising from the nearby ocean. Good old republic city.

Korra closed the window before walking over, and opening her dresser. She abruptly put on some short running shorts and an oversized t-shirt. Then she picked up some discarded clothes and dropped them into the dirty clothes basket, before stopping in the bathroom, to wash her face and attempt to straighten out her hair, in what Asami, liked to call a "Wolf Tail".

She then paddled down the short white hallway, the hardwood floors refreshingly cool on her feet. She walked through the living room, past the second hallway to the door, turned right straight into the kitchen. Her roomate, Asami Sato, stood behind the counter singing at the top of her lungs, while making breakfast. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Asami had long black hair and startlingly green eyes. She had a taller but more slender build than Korra, and was currently waiting a cyan spaghetti strap, and black shorts. Only one of her feet wore a sock, because, accordingly to Asami, only one foot got cold. Korra didn't get it either. They had been best friends since school and Korra's roommate since they left it.

Her father was a crimelord in republic city, so she had to fend for herself when she was young. She had made the first working combustion engine in the world, Korra had later worked with her to make the Combustion Automatic Reaction system, as Asami dubbed it, Korra just preferred to call it a car. It was a new vehicle that revolutionized the transportation of republic city.

"Good morning Korra, might I say you look lovely this morning" Asami said flipping a pancake

"Morning Asami" Korra said lazily before glancing at the good stack of pancakes Asami was carrying to the table "So you working today?"

"Yep, I'll have to leave soon" She said glancing at the paper "Our production is as record hights"

"Yeah..." Korra said mashing into her pancakes

"So how did your interview with the police cheif go?" Asami asked "Did she suspect anything?"

"Yes she did, she discovered I was a bender" Korra shrugged "She seemed to remember me from somewhere, but couldn't quite place it"

"You're paranoid, just remember you're a waterbender, there is no possible way she could remember you after eight years" Asami said sitting down to her bountiful pancake breakfast

"I don't know..." Korra said worried

"Don't think about it, you're overreacting, so... would you like to catch the game tonight?" Asami asked deciding to get Korra's mind off the subject

"Sure, I told you those season tickets were a good Idea" Korra said perking up "Who is up tonight"

"Some guys called the fire Ferrets"

621236212362123621236212362123621236212362123

The assisstant inhaled sharply, while standing outside of Amon's office, before breathing out sharply noticing the water vapor revealing the path of his breath. He sat outside Amon's office, which existed on a warehouse near the docks of Republic city, he felt a rather annoying soreness on his back, likely from lactic acid, produced during last night training. before streching slightly, he calmly knocked on the a rather soft "come in" he opened the metal door leading into Amon's office.

Opening the door he stepped in to the sparsely decorated room, of cold metal, infact the only things worth noting, were the neat desk, with a stack of organized speeches, and a massive map of republic city, with various locations marked, with certain symbols, meeting places, safe houses, and targets.

At this the assisstant felt a sense of pride to the orginization of their leader, precision, accuracy...

Calmly sitting at the desk was the man himself in a solid state of contemplation, before looking up at the man

"What do you have to report?" Amon said calmly

"Our sources have confirmed that the city has produced a new council woman, she appears to be one of the co-owners of the C.A.R corporation" he finished breifly thinking about the poor choice of name for the company

"What is her element?" Amon continued, looking through some papers

"We don't know" the assisstant answered quickly, and paused a moment for continuing, "no one has ever seen her bend, she might be the first non-bender council member"

"Tell me about her" Amon said suddenly looking interested

" Her name is Korra, there are no official records form where she came from, and she has a passionate voice for ther poor, on more than one occation she has suggested a plan for a democratic goverment..." the Assistant said quickly reading his report

"Interesting, and when would we send miss Korra a meeting" Amon asked

"Our source says that she likes pro-bending and should be there tonight..."

THE END


End file.
